Knobjockey

Time has come to get rid of the wife's E61 530dse not so much because of ALL the problems we have had over the last 18 months but we have out grown it with 3 small children.

The airbag is ?400 to have it switched off and the same to have it switched back on again.... What a ripoff.
I know they now do a key switch for ?60.
We can not get 3 kids seats along the rear seat so it's not really a family car, if only I had known when I purchased it that we were due a 3rd then I would have looked elsewhere.

Secondhand values.... Well quite a shock really, having a list price with extras of ?44k and not even the bad extras, the good ones, i.e Auto, Leather, Pro Nav, Phone, sunroof, xeons, nice wheels and service/Main pack (5y60K).
Lowest offer was ?23k
Best was ?25k
I tried 20+ dealers and 75% did not even want it at any price!! So much for a popular model?
20 months old with 15k miles on the clock
Thats a ?1k a month or ?1.25p a mile. excluding fuel/insurance etc.
I'd of got the same for the car without Nav/xeons/phone and sunroof.
I'd have got ?3k less with auto and leather so got my money back on those.

It's been of the road for 30 days in the 20 months and we had it and had all the usual problems plus a few less common one's.
I'll miss it but I won't miss the loss of money or the time off the road!
Fuel consumption was poor with an average of 25mpg over the 15k miles.
Still on the same tyres with plenty of life and as it was my wife's car she drove it very carefully as she always had the kids in the car so the fuel consumption was quite a shock really.

We are picking up a Land Rover Discovery 3 next week with the TDV6 auto S model.
7 seats and a real smooth motor even compared to the 530d! We will miss the power but not the tight space of the poor reliability.
I only hope the Land Rover is better, I don't really think it could be much worse.

Good luck to all.

Paul

my530i

Sorry to see you go away man. I know that owning BMW is fun for drivability but not fun financially :'(

Peter530i

LandRover ! oh boy come back in a few months and lets talk about problems with cars ...... you'll be bagging for BMW. you'll see

tachyon

I'm sorry to report, but, ummm, yes it can get much worse. Land Rover ranks among the very worst in build quality.
Sorry to see you go, but the move to a bigger vehicle certainly makes sense in your case. I noticed the November 2005 Car Magazine (UK) rated the Discovery ahead of the MB 320 and the Volvo XC90, so it looks to be a good performer. We have the Volvo and it is great to have all that room.

Enjoy and best of luck.

swajames

I think the new Discovery (it's called an LR3 in the US) is actually a very cool piece of kit. Major improvements in design and build over the older Disco's, and upgraded engines. Was seriously thinking about one when my wife's van was due for a change but at that point they were tough to get here as they were just out. Also looks like much better reliability and initial quality compared to the older models.

Best of luck with the new car, Knobjockey.

TexaZ3

Well, actually, 25mpg is not bad at all, thought not great for a diesel.
And for re-sale values - first owner always takes a big hit - that is why I always try to buy (almost) new, but pre-owned. Whoever buys your car will get a nice deal on 15K car.

allenman

I agree, you think you have issues now, just wait till you have the Rover experience. Oh man oh man, I'm ROFLMAO....
See you back soon...

Peter530i

I think the new Discovery (it's called an LR3 in the US) is actually a very cool piece of kit. Major improvements in design and build over the older Disco's, and upgraded engines. Was seriously thinking about one when my wife's van was due for a change but at that point they were tough to get here as they were just out. Also looks like much better reliability and initial quality compared to the older models.

Best of luck with the new car, Knobjockey.
[/quote]

I was talking about quality.... The Land Rover is in sale for a while here and I've heard a lot about its poor quality.....just my honest oppinion

Ray Hull

I want to see a picture of those 7 seats. Must be the L model...

Hope it does what you need,

Ray Hull

Captain Tenneal

I looked at an LR3 before I pulled my head out and purchased an X5 for the wife. They have a legit third row that was suprisingly comfortable (and I'm 6'1" 240!). I have three boys under the age of 8, so space is not at a premium yet.

My lease will be up on the X just in time for the second year run of the new X, maybe even the new X6 I saw in Car and Driver.